Disposing of documents

Shredder and the bits go in compost.

It’s worth investing in a good quality shredder and some proper oil for the machine . Look for a cross shredder. One that does expired bank cards as well.
When I was working in the print room there were always a queue of people who wanted to use the industrial shredder!.

I did have a shedder but kept jamming on me and then the handle broke as a manual and I lost patience with it and chucked it in the bin. Put all documents etc in the compost bin, got rid of 2 years bank statements 5 days ago and out of interest had a look with gardening gloves as since put other compost in and just gone to mush and not readable so will do for me. Plenty of beetles, worms and earwigs seemed to be munching away and not interested in scamming me!

Take them to your bank they will shred them for you. That’s what I did.

All the banks round here have closed. Also I have many bags of docs.

I got a cheap gizmo that you swipe over the page and it blacks out the print. It’s about three inches wide, so much faster than using a pen. I then tear the paper and bin it. I usually take a photo first and file it on my laptop for reference. I have folders for ‘house’, ‘health’, ‘finance’ etc for ease of reference.

I am always careful to take the address and any details which would give information about me from any paper I want to get rid of. Then things like how to use eye drops or such like instructions go into the recycling bag, lightweight papers, or papers in say 4 sheets I separate into single sheets, easier to rip up etc. Then I usually have a couple of recycling bags on the go. Rip them up a bit and split into the two different bags so that you could not piece together any item to make sense. So quite enjoy doing a fair bit of ripping up , especially having heard Putin or Trump on the news. Am lucky to have a friend who has a wood burning stove so the actual bits of addresses or financial info go in her stove , and so far am reasonably up to date. However once the dresser saga is finished I need to go through files and do a proper sort out. My last shredder had burnt out so about time to think of new one and see where I can get ones cheaper.

We also have a shredder and my husband shreds everything with any personal details on it. I simply shred plastic cards finely with scissors, making sure I cut through any magnetic strip, name, numbers or whatever.

Just had another session clearing drawers of old tax documents, pay slips, bank and credit card statements etc. I'll certainly have enough for the confidential document shredding company to take away next week. It's very therapeutic emptying it all out. Still more to do. Old car insurance and other insurance docs. Amazing how it's all built up.

Doodledog

I got a cheap gizmo that you swipe over the page and it blacks out the print. It’s about three inches wide, so much faster than using a pen. I then tear the paper and bin it. I usually take a photo first and file it on my laptop for reference. I have folders for ‘house’, ‘health’, ‘finance’ etc for ease of reference.

That sounds interesting, Doodledog
What's it called?

Well I finally finished sorting through almost 50 years of old documents. Six black bin bags are packed full. The document shredding people are collecting them tomorrow. Phew. It feels great for it to be done. Must not let it build up again. Will be buying a new shredder.

A redactor roller, it seems.

Link is to one on Amazon.

silverlining48

I haven’t heard of setting the paper, I do have a shredder but it seizes up if it’s used for too long. I like the idea of soaking it to bits.

Mine’s the same. I get round this by having a pile of papers to be disposed of beside the shredder and posting a few pages each time I pass. It allows the shredder to cool and stops making document disposal a chore.

Aveline

Well I finally finished sorting through almost 50 years of old documents. Six black bin bags are packed full. The document shredding people are collecting them tomorrow. Phew. It feels great for it to be done. Must not let it build up again. Will be buying a new shredder.

Don’t worry Aveline. I doubt you’ll be around in 50 years time to have to do it all again 😢
If, however, you are not a Gran and are actually very young, you might be 🤣

Grandmabatty

Definitely a shredder. I've gone through a few of them over the years

Same here😄I love shredding.

I certainly won't be around for another 50 years! I love shredding but not as much as laminating. I used to love laminating documents when I was working.

I did too Adeline! I very nearly laminated a sandwich but thought better of it.

Doodledog

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Link is to one on Amazon.

Thanks so much for this Doodledog. I have quite a pile of documents to dispose of and the idea of just using this for several short sessions each day rather than shredding really appeals. Ordered one and it arrives tomorrow, lots of good reviews. We have to put shreddings in our general waste so I'm happy that this gadget means the documents can now go into the recycling bin.

The shredding company just left. All the bags were shredded in their lorry in our car park. Very efficient and helpful. I certainly hope I don't have to use them again though!

JoyBloggs

Doodledog

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Link is to one on Amazon.

Thanks so much for this Doodledog. I have quite a pile of documents to dispose of and the idea of just using this for several short sessions each day rather than shredding really appeals. Ordered one and it arrives tomorrow, lots of good reviews. We have to put shreddings in our general waste so I'm happy that this gadget means the documents can now go into the recycling bin.

No problem. There is something satisfying about redacting, and you can do it in front of the TV as it doesn't make a noise.

It's out for delivery and arriving this afternoon... I am looking forward to playing with my new toy! Very timely as our recycling will be collected tomorrow so I shall get cracking 'redacting' later today.